ENDA Episode 62→ The time when ENDA shares the Importance of an Organized Script (Part 2)
We can have a comp that starts from top to bottom but without visual guides, it would look like a maze of nodes where we which ones are the ones we want to change.
Last time, we talked about how crucial it is to maintain an organized node graph in your compositing script, both to keep your workflow efficient and to help others easily follow your logic. Now, let’s dive into one of the simplest but most impactful steps you can take:
✅ Start at the Top, End at the Bottom
It might sound obvious (or even confusing if you’ve never thought about it), but structuring your comps from top to bottom is a standard approach for a reason.
We naturally read from top to bottom, so when someone opens your script, they’ll look to the top as the starting point and the bottom as the final output.
✅ Visual Guidance Matters:
We can have a comp that starts from top to bottom but without visual guides, it would look like a maze of nodes where we which ones are the ones we want to change.
➡️ Flow Direction: Whenever possible, keep your connections pointing downward or horizontally. Avoid routing lines upward, they disrupt that natural reading flow and make it harder to trace the origin path.
➡️ Color Backdrops: Use colored Backdrops to group nodes and distinguish different stages in your comp. At a glance and in a big comp, you’ll know which nodes belong to roto, keying, color corrections, and so on.
➡️ Mind the Spacing: Don’t cram your nodes too close to each other or the backdrop edges. Leaving breathing room between nodes makes the script more readable, especially if you’re working with a large or complex setup.
Each one of the last three points can be exemplified in different ways in a comp. But… that would be for a future episode.
The journey continues…
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